69: Chapter 69 The Dragon-Swallowing Gu... devours... the people of Huoyun!

Corpses.

In the Inner City Area, whether on the streets, in front of shops, or outside the houses where ordinary Mortals lived, there were corpses covering the ground.

From these corpses, one could even tell the condition these people were in before they died.

A Mortal walked along the long street, his figure swaying abruptly, and then his head burst silently, his body crashing heavily to the ground.

Another person was bending over to tidy up goods on a stall when dark, thick blood gushed without warning from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and then he quietly collapsed among the scattered goods.

The long street of the entire inner city area was filled with such suddenly deceased Mortals.

A woman knelt in the middle of the street, tightly hugging a five or six-year-old child in her arms, her hoarse cries piercing the dead silence:

"An'er... An'er, open your eyes... Look at your mother..."

Hearing the sound, Qin Muyuan raised his eyes and saw that the woman wore a thin, washed-out shirt, shivering in the wind.

The child in her arms had a complexion like bruised, black, wet mud trampled on the ground by wealthy families, with dark brown bloodstains coagulated at the seven orifices.

Yet the child's body, though having been dead for less than half an hour, was already in a state of decay, with dark shadows faintly moving between the skin and flesh.

Looking closely, they were actually clusters of unknown black bugs, drilling in and out from the depths of the rotting flesh, devouring the young body like gluttons!

These black bugs seemed to have long been parasitic in this body, and only now awakened along with the child's death!

Looking at this scene, the wolf demon Wangcai let out a low whine unbearable to watch.

Meanwhile, the smile on Qin Muyuan's face brought by his enhanced strength gradually sank, and he silently watched all of this.

He lifted his leg and, bringing Wangcai with him, walked through the suddenly deceased crowd, skimming past the side of that woman.

After walking dozens of steps on the long street of the outer city area, the man and the wolf suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Before them appeared an NPC he recognized.

There were originally two NPCs, but currently there was only one left.

Liang Jiujiu was in a trance as he hugged Chen Shuang's gradually cooling body.

The instant he heard the footsteps stop, he sluggishly raised his head, his hollow gaze looking toward Qin Muyuan not far away.

"Qin... Hero Qin..."

The moment he recognized Qin Muyuan, a trace of sobriety belonging to a living person finally flashed through the nearly demented blankness in Liang Jiujiu's eyes.

His voice was hoarse, every word oozing despair:

"I am sorry... Hero Qin... I failed to... protect Shuang'er..."

"..." Qin Muyuan remained silent, only casting his gaze toward Chen Shuang.

That once bright and pretty face now had no smiles left, leaving only a stiff and cold lividness.

The corners of Liang Jiujiu's mouth twitched into a desolate bitterness:

"It was the disaster relief food... The disaster relief food distributed by the imperial court..."

"That food... was tampered with... Anyone who ate it would breed black bugs inside their bodies, devouring all vitality from the inside out..."

"And then... people's vital blood was devoured by the swarms of bugs, turning into streams of blood... and flying toward the direction of the Imperial Palace Area..."

Listening to Liang Jiujiu's words, Qin Muyuan's mind conjured the scene he had just witnessed.

The scene of that woman whose clothes were washed white, whose figure was so thin only bones remained, and who seemed as if she had never been full even once, hugging her child.

Her child had died, but she was not dead...

Immediately afterward, Qin Muyuan recalled the scene when he was fighting in the Imperial Palace Area, where several streams of blood swept across the firmament and converged into the imperial palace.

"Dragon-Swallowing Gu Qi... Dragon-Swallowing... Gu..."

The dragon is the symbol of a country.

And to a country, what was the most important thing?

It was not the army, not the ministers, nor the ruler.

But rather... all the low-ranking Mortals at the very bottom who quietly contributed to the country!

The Dragon-Swallowing Gu, what it swallowed... was actually the people of Huoyun Country!

Looking at that bitterness on Liang Jiujiu's face, Qin Muyuan did not say a single word for a long time.

"Was it you who killed the people of the Yu Family in Lingzhu Market?"

However, right at this moment, a figure suddenly fell from the sky, landing not far behind Liang Jiujiu.

That was a woman dressed in a white robe, with an ethereal and distant demeanor, looking as if she were not in the same art style as the entire Huoyun City.

Floating down from the firmament, the woman cast her gaze toward Wangcai.

From Wangcai's body, she perceived the vibration emitted by the Echo Sound Worm mother.

And soon she withdrew her gaze from Wangcai, casting it toward Qin Muyuan.

This wolf demon's strength Realm was too low; it was impossible for it to kill Yushui.

Therefore.

"The person who killed Yushui is you?"

Yuzhen's icy gaze looked toward Qin Muyuan:

"What kind of muscleman raised by which family in Lingzhu Market are you? Speak up, and I can leave you an intact corpse."

Hearing Yuzhen's voice, Liang Jiujiu, who wore a dazed expression and had lost all brilliance in his eyes, subconsciously raised his head and looked toward the source of the voice.

The next second, when his sight landed on Yuzhen, a heart-piercing pain came from his chest.

"Pfft."

Liang Jiujiu suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

He lowered his head to look, only to see that a large hole had been torn open in the center of his chest at some unknown time.

From within, one could even see that only half of his heart was left, and it was rapidly stopping its beat...

Before falling, the last sentence he heard was issued by Yuzhen's icy voice:

"Audacious. Who allowed a Mortal like you to look at me with those filthy eyes?"

Pat.

The instant these words fell, the last remaining light in Liang Jiujiu's eyes vanished, and he collapsed onto the floor.

Together with Chen Shuang in his arms, he died forever on this long street of Huoyun City.

Casually killing Liang Jiujiu, Yuzhen once again cast her gaze onto Qin Muyuan:

"I will ask once more—"

Boom——!

The next second, an extremely terrifying Killing Intent suddenly surged out from Qin Muyuan's body!

The instant she perceived this Killing Intent, Yuzhen's expression abruptly changed, and a feeling of panic actually arose in her heart!

But the moment she noticed this panic, an extreme fury abruptly surged within Yuzhen—

Dignified as an Immortal Cultivator, her expression actually changed because of the Killing Intent emitted by a Martial Cultivator from such a backwater place right before her!

To her, Fairy Yuzhen, this was simply a huge humiliation!

"Slap the face!"

Yuzhen's expression was like cold ice as she raised her palm and fiercely lashed it toward Qin Muyuan.

Spiritual Qi dispersed, forming a gigantic palm in mid-air, fiercely lashing down toward Qin Muyuan.

Clang!

A crisp sword hum that resounded across the firmament echoed over the long street.

That gigantic palm condensed from Spiritual Qi was instantly sliced into hundreds of fragments amidst the sword hum!

This scene made Yuzhen's expression change drastically.

And within her shocked gaze, behind the black-haired, black-eyed youth in front of her, a blood shadow soaring with Evil Qi abruptly condensed.

"Kill!"

A voice as cold as the descent of a freezing abyss resounded across the entire firmament!

The blood shadow lunged forward, rapidly merging into one with the youth.

In the youth's hand, at some unknown time, a long saber appeared that was entirely blood-red, as if cast from fresh blood.

On the long saber, an extremely terrifying bloody Evil Qi aura was emitted.

Bang!

While Yuzhen was still trapped in shock, the youth in her eyes suddenly moved.

Waves of Qi exploded with a boom, the ground shattered in response, and spiderweb-like cracks spread nearly five meters wide and long around.

The youth's figure was ghost-like and spectral, transforming into a bloody afterimage, charging straight toward her front like a swiftly streaking line of blood!

Yuzhen's expression changed drastically, and she immediately urged her Spiritual Qi to protect her body.

But the next instant, a heart-piercing excruciating pain had already pierced through her whole body from her right arm!

Rip——

Sword light flashed and vanished, a white finger flying up into the air.

Immediately following that, the sword light flashed again, and that severed finger was actually chopped into a pile of shattered, rotten flesh in mid-air!

Even if she cast a Spell, she could absolutely never reattach this mud-like rotten flesh!

"Ah—"

The miserable scream in Yuzhen's mouth hadn't had time to be uttered.

The next instant, another streak of sword light flashed across.

The remaining four fingers of her right hand once more flew up into the air, transforming into a lump of mashed flesh!

Pain akin to pulling tendons and breaking bones once again swept through Yuzhen's entire body!